my most precious treasure (what was it again?)
by Xephonia
Summary: Kamishiro Ryouga and Tenjou Kaito are partners. They're also dead. Even if they find out what they paid to gain the chance to try and come back to life, they might not like the answer. [TWEWY AU.]


The timers on Ryouga's and Kaito's hands appear simultaneously.

A text message.

 **"Erase all the Noise in Heartland Tower. Fail, and face erasure."  
—The Reapers**

"Wonderful." Ryouga sighs and pockets his phone again. "Let's get moving then, the other teams aren't even close to being fast enough."

Kaito doesn't move. "Noise. They feed on people's negativity, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

Kaito starts to run.

It takes Ryouga a moment to process what happened, then he sprints after Kaito. "Wait, what's wrong with you?!"

"We talk later!"

 _Stubborn bastard._

The thing is. In any other world; in any other place, at any other time, Ryouga wouldn't have cared.

He would've let Kaito run, because Kaito is stubborn and annoying and he pisses Ryouga off.

However, in this situation, Ryouga can't just let Kaito run off.

They are partners, bound by a pact; in fact, their lives are tied together by that pact as well. If one of them is erased, the other will follow after seven minutes.

Ryouga feels like he's been here before, but his memory is lacking, and all he can do is complete the missions the Reapers give them—

—and hope he'll get to find out what his entry fee for entering the Game was.

Ryouga shakes his head and runs after Kaito, knowing Kaito will soon run into the Noise.

"Idiot, you can't fight it without a partner!" He shouts and joins the battle, already seeing how bruised Kaito is. "Seriously."

"I need to save my brother," Kaito mutters and keeps going and—

He's reckless. It's not like him.

"Brother?" Ryouga asks as he and Kaito run. They can't be seen by the living, and taking the train would take too long anyway, so all there is to do is running.

Ryouga wonders if a car would pass through them like people do, too. He doesn't wanna try, but Kaito ignores the red lights, so he does as well.

A car passes through him.

 _We really are dead, huh? Stuck in some dumb survival game after dying. For a chance to come back to life._

He feels like the word 'brother' should remind him of something, but he doesn't remember, and he doesn't have time to try either.

All that counts is completing the mission, anyway.

* * *

They reach the top of the tower, just to see—

Nothing.

An empty room.

"Haruto?" Kaito only breathes the name, it's like he hasn't spoken at all.

He looks around, crawls under the bed in the center of the room.

A bit louder, now, "Haruto?"

Then he screams.

No response.

No one is here.

(Even if there was, whoever is in the living world doesn't hear them anyway.)

A man suddenly comes up the elevator; Ryouga thinks he knows who that is.

Dr. Faker, the one pulling the strings behind the marionette politician that Mr. Heartland is.

"Father?" Kaito says, just to realize no one here can see him.

Faker walks through him. "Haruto? Where have you disappeared to?"

It's only from the corner of his eye, but Ryouga thinks he can see Faker shed a tear.

He gets it now.

This is Kaito's home.

"Kaito, scan."

Kaito slowly nods and does. "A giant Noise."

"Probably feeding off his sadness," Ryouga says and gets ready to fight. "I know—"

— _I don't know how you feel, but I feel like I should—_

"—how you feel, but we have to accomplish the mission first. Then we can think about Haruto. If you're erased, you can't look for him."

Kaito slowly nods.

It's time to fight.

* * *

Kaito collapses immediately after, and Ryouga knows they should be about to lose consciousness given that the task is completed. Their timers have vanished, too.

(He notices left the room while they were fighting, too. Good thing normal humans can't see any of this.)

Ryouga waits. It should be over any minute now. Three, two, one...

"Good job," a female voice says, and in front of them manifests a girl with the black wings of a Reaper; a girl that looks very familiar to Ryouga, with her blue hair and piercing stare.

"Who... who are you?" Ryouga asks, and he feels like he should know.

Kaito slowly gets into a sitting position. "You're the Game Master, aren't you? The one who didn't even show up on day one and got herself a replacement instead."

(Ryouga curses himself for not having paid attention on the first day.)

"That's correct, my name is Merag," the girl confirms, and she looks at Ryouga with sad eyes, then shakes her head and looks back at Kaito. "I've come here to give you some information, since you're the only ones who've proven to be a challenge."

 _She lies, doesn't she?_

Ryouga doesn't know how he knows, but he knows; Merag is lying. She's not doing it because of how well they did or whatever.

"Kaito, your entry fee was Haruto."

"What?!"

"And Na— Ryouga, your entry fee was a memory. I will not specify which one, but it's your most important memory. You guys have been doing good so far, don't disappoint me when we fight on day 7."

 _Selective memory loss does explain a lot._

Kaito tries to get up, shouts about how they can't just take Haruto, but—

"We all lost something." Merag turns her back at them, and Ryouga feels like she's about to cry. "So work hard to regain it."

"Wait, Ri—" Ryouga stops himself in his sentence, and Merag is gone.

 _What was that name?_


End file.
